Legislature competent to ban online games, Karnataka govt tells HC

BENGALURU: The State Government on Tuesday strongly defended the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act to prohibit and criminalise playing online games, including games of skill, saying the change is within the legislative competence of the state Legislature. 

Advocate-General Prabhuling K Navadagi argued before the division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Krishna S Dixit that whether any game is ‘game of skill’ or ‘game of choice’ is a pure question of fact and can only be ascertained after examining the nature of the game. 

He submitted that the petitioners have failed to disclose sufficient facts to ascertain the nature of their games. The state does not admit that the games of the petitioners are ‘games of skill’. Online games are different from physical/offline ones and constitute a class in themselves. They require third-party intervention for their functioning. Moreover, online games are accessible to an individual at any point of time and on any given day, he argued.  

The court was hearing a batch of petitions questioning the ban on online games by the state government. The petitioners claimed that Karnataka Legislature does not have legislative competence under the Constitution to enact the amendment. 

The state government contended that the writ petitions were devoid of merit and deserve to be dismissed and that the petitioners have no locus standi to approach the court against the amendment. The state government alleged that the petitioners have not given any details as to the nature of the activities performed by them. They are deliberately silent as to the nature of games and activities administered on their platform.

Further hearing was adjourned to November 30.